Midweek Message - Living in Love

1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. (NIV)

As part of the history class that I took in High School, I had to study the origins of World War 2. Our class spent several weeks focusing on FDR’s Presidency and how he motivated the American people to deal with the Great Depression, as well as leading them through the dark days of the global war. We also had to learn his exceptional words - which are still often quoted - from his first inaugural speech in 1933: ‘The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.’

There’s no doubt that we are living in anxious times. Most of the good folks I know are fearful of the future because uncertainty has robbed them of their confidence. Others feel that partisan politics have become an extreme problem and that we are heading toward a severe conflict which will divide our communities, our congregations, and our families. The longer this insecurity continues, the deeper our divisions; the more our unfettered concerns grow, the fewer connections we will have with one another. Fearing our fears will erode our trust; fueling our fears will break our nation.

All this has happened before. Centuries ago, when Christians were actually being persecuted and the survival of the church was questionable, old men like the Apostle John called upon the community of faith to face their fear by replacing it with love. To be fearful was to punish yourself with anxiety; to be faithful was to replenish yourself with love. John fully believed that our lives were meant to be focused on love and not overwhelmed with fear.

Today, Christ’s Church, as always, has the remedy to reduce our fears and relinquish our anxieties. The Spirit of Christ within us has the power to overcome the spirit of spite outside us. Fear is a manipulator which imprisons our souls with lies; faith is a motivator which frees our spirits with love.

May you bring all your fears to Christ and exchange them for His love.

Prayer: Loving God, help us to live lovingly rather than existing fearfully. Enable us to follow Jesus faithfully and share His love generously. In Christ’s Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Short devotion: Seeing God - 1 John 4:12

 

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (ESV)

 Throughout my many years in ministry, I’ve recognized that the invisibility of God is a problem for some people. Because He cannot be seen in person, they refuse to accept God’s existence. If He were to turn up one day and walk among us, then they would have no problem in believing that God is alive. Until that happens, however, they will simply not believe.

 But God isn’t invisible; His existence is seen in the lives of many people. As the Apostle John wrote long ago, ‘God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.’ This means that if we want to convince someone else that God is alive, then they need to see Him in us. If God’s love is perfected in us, then it should be apparent to others in our relationships and through our deeds. If we sincerely care for others, show compassion, and share love to the world, then we will display God’s existence. However, if we present to the world disdain, indifference, and dishonesty, then God will never be seen by those around us.

 So, perhaps next time when we hear from someone or read in a post that they don’t believe in God because He cannot be seen, let’s not argue or get into an online debate, Instead, let’s try to show God’s perfect love through what we say, write, or do because those will be more effective than scoring over others with theological or Biblical points.

 Q: Do I believe that God abides in me? Do others recognize this?

 Prayer: Lord God, help us to be open to Your love and grant us opportunities to show Your compassion to those we encounter today. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

 John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to see what’s happening at the church, click on this link: www.erinpres.org.

 Today’s image is one of John’s latest drawings called “Fall Communion.” If you would like to view a larger image, click this link: Communion.

Short Devotion: Definition - 1 John 4:10-11

 

1 John 4:10-11 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (ESV)

 This is one of those verses in the Bible where you have to look up the definition of a certain word. In this case, ‘propitiation’ is the word that needs to be defined and, if you do a Google search, this is what you discover:

 ‘Propitiation is the act of appeasing or making well-disposed a deity, thus incurring divine favor or avoiding divine retribution.’

 In recent years, I’ve heard and read a lot of people and pastors who reject the theory of atonement (which is another word for ‘propitiation’). Their idea is that it would be too mean for God to actually sacrifice His Son in order to acquit us of our sins. Jesus, then, came to show us Divine love and that we should peaceably get along with another. They also say that atonement is a theology that was only developed a couple of hundred years ago, and was never a part of the original Christian message. But that is so untrue – fake news or alternative facts, if you like. Re-read the verse again – what does it tell us?

 It tells us propitiation is real and that because it was written by the Apostle John, it was and has been ever since a crucial part of the Christian message since it was first proclaimed. I would rather believe the Apostle John, who knew Jesus personally, than any modern or post-modern commentators. I may not like the aspect that God willingly sacrificed His Son for my sins, but I am very thankful for it. I can only trust that if God felt it was necessary to do this, then it must have been the right thing. It makes me love God and people even more which I think is what John was expressing in this sentence.

 So, folks, please know this: no matter what you’ve done or how many regrets over past mistakes you carry in your heart and are constantly on your mind, God totally forgives you because Jesus has perfectly paid the price and taken away the eternal consequences.

 Prayer: Lord God, we are merely human and think in limited ways. The mystery of Your love astounds us and the mercy that Jesus obtained amazes us. We know we are not worthy of such sacrificial love, but we are thankful and will be for all of eternity. In Christ’s Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

 John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

www.erinpres.org

July 16 devotion - Seeing God

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (NIV)

            One of my favorite hymns was written by a Scottish minister, Walter Chalmers Smith. The song is called “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.” It’s one of a handful of traditional hymns that I can recite perfectly so whenever we sing it in church, I close my eyes and meditate on the beautiful lyrics.

            To me, the words describe the absolute majesty of God and how His glorious shekinah veils Him from our eyes. God is invisible not because He wants to hide from us, but because His glory is so bright that it does not register on our vision’s wavelength. God’s presence is always with us because we exist in His reality, not our own. He sees us perfectly, but we can only get a glimpse of God in how we love one another, according to the Apostle John. This means that if we truly want to see God in our lives, we need to become vessels of His love and grace.

            Sadly, we live in a world which is broken by disunity and dimmed by fear. We stumble in the dark because of our selfish and antagonistic ways. Pride overshadows our society and greed blots out our generosity. We are in danger of going down a blind alley created out of arrogance and vanity, bigotry and hatred. In other words, we are potentially doomed to become lost because our sins will eventually engulf us, casting us on a path to perdition and destruction.

            The only way to overcome this shadowing of our world is through the light of God’s love. There is no other substantive way or effective presence to remedy our self-inflicted plight other than our love for one another and the abundant sharing of God’s grace. As Christians, we have the capacity to change the entire world into a better planet for people everywhere, but only if we are willing to let others see God actively, graciously, and lovingly at work in our hearts and lives. For only then will the glory (Shekinah) of the Lord be seen; only then will the immortal, invisible God appear in our world.

Point to ponder

Where can I let God’s love through me lighten my community today?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You once told Your followers that they were the light of the world. Help us in this generation to become those same vessels of light and grace that our planet desperately needs. May God’s loving presence become evident in all that we say and do. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Come along and join us for worship on Sundays at 11:00 AM. You will be made very welcome 😊

Today’s image is one of John’s psalm drawings based on Psalm 24 v 1. If you would like to view a larger version, please click this link: Psalm24.

If you would like to watch and listen to a wonderful version of the hymn “Immortal, Invisible,” please click this link: HYMN

June 3 devotional - This is Love

1 John 4:10    This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

            I like to read what the Apostle John has written about faith. Whether it comes from his Gospel writing, his letters, or even the Book of Revelation, John had the gift of writing something succinctly and directly. He was usually not confrontational like Paul; he just wanted people to receive Christ’s message through the power of love.

            His description of love in today’s verse shows us what God did to prove that He truly loved us: God sacrificed His own Son to atone for our sins. Think about it: the Creator of the Universe gave up what was the most precious thing to Him – His own Son – in order to rescue the vilest sinners in the Universe – human beings. I cannot fully fathom why God would do such an awful thing to save us; it just doesn’t make sense. Instead of sacrificing Jesus, God could have destroyed everything that He made, and then have started again, making sure that sin never came into the equation at all. That would have been the easy way out, but God has never been One for taking things easy.

            The hardest thing that God could do in order to save us and restore creation, was to sacrifice His loving, precious, and dearest Son. Only a God who was loving and just could have done that; a capricious demiurge would have backed away from such a terrible sacrifice. True love is not just about embracing, accepting, and encouraging – true love always includes sacrifice, selflessness, and surrender. For love of us, God surrendered His Son to our demented depravity in order to deliver us from ourselves, our sins, and our deaths. For love of His Father, Jesus gave up His life to ensure our salvation, to overcome evil, and to honor God. It sounds crazy to us, but there is a deeper love involved here than we could ever imagine, know, or experience for ourselves.

            As John wrote long ago: This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

What more could God ever do to show that He loves us completely?

Prayer:                        Lord God, we can never fathom the depths of Your amazing and almighty love. To sacrifice Your sinless Son for despicable sinners like us is incomprehensible for us to fully understand. All that we can simply do is gratefully and humbly accept Your remarkable grace and unequaled love. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. If you would like to make a comment or ask questions about today’s devotion, please send him an email to traqair@aol.com.

Today’s image is John’s latest drawing called “Surfing Style.” To view a larger version, click on the following link: https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3670/14082073517_ceeae46cc7_b.jpg

Seeing God - 1 John 4:12

1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. (NIV)

            One of my favorite hymns was written by a Scottish minister, Walter Chalmers Smith. The song is called “Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise.” It’s one of a handful of traditional hymns that I can recite perfectly so whenever we sing it in church, I close my eyes and meditate on the beautiful lyrics.

            To me, the words describe the absolute majesty of God and how His glorious shekinah veils Him from our eyes. God is invisible not because He wants to hide from us, but because His glory is so bright that it does not register on our vision’s wavelength. God’s presence is always with us because we exist in His reality, not our own. He sees us perfectly, but we can only get a glimpse of God in how we love one another, according to the Apostle John. This means that if we truly want to see God in our lives, we need to become vessels of His love and grace.

            Sadly, we live in a world which is broken by disunity and dimmed by fear. We stumble in the dark because of our selfish and antagonistic ways. Pride overshadows our society and greed blots out our generosity. We are in danger of going down a blind alley created out of arrogance and vanity, bigotry and hatred. In other words, we are potentially doomed to become lost because our sins will eventually engulf us, casting us on a path to perdition and destruction.

            The only way to overcome this shadowing of our world is through the light of God’s love. There is no other substantive way or effective presence to remedy our self-inflicted plight other than our love for one another and the abundant sharing of God’s grace. As Christians, we have the capacity to change the entire world into a better planet for people everywhere, but only if we are willing to let others see God actively, graciously, and lovingly at work in our hearts and lives. For only then will the glory (Shekinah) of the Lord be seen; only then will the immortal, invisible God appear in our world.

Point to ponder

Where can I let God’s love through me lighten my community today?

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You once told Your followers that they were the light of the world. Help us in this generation to become those same vessels of light and grace that our planet desperately needs. May God’s loving presence become evident in all that we say and do. In Your Holy Name, we humbly pray. Amen.

John Stuart is the pastor of Erin Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Come along and join us for worship on Sundays at 11:00 AM. You will be made very welcome 😊

Today’s image is one of John’s psalm drawings based on Psalm 24 v 1. If you would like to view a larger version, please click this link: Psalm24.

If you would like to watch and listen to a wonderful version of the hymn “Immortal, Invisible,” please click this link: HYMN